From today the blog will look at little different. This is the beginning of a walk I am calling the #GrandWalkOut. It is a walk to London via canals.
It therefore begins on our nearest canal at Marple. I dropped Bob there as he was taking the first leg today as far as Bollington.
The first day of a long walk is a bit ‘wait and see’. It actually turned into the longest walk I’d done since having Covid19. It was beautiful to be back out in the Spring sunshine, ducklings bobbing alongside, the edges of the path decorated with Spring flowers.
I drove onto Macclesfield to pick up an LCSB friend and then back to Bollington where I parked to car (for Bob to find later) and set off on foot with my friend down the Macclesfield Canal.
The walk was followed by first class Benedictine Hospitality in Macclesfield. As a Lay Community we say we try to ‘re-imagine’ the Rule for the 21st century. But some bits are more straightforward than others. Sharing a meal is an obvious place to start. We were the welcomed strangers. It’s good to be reminded that this is what is expected of us.
From the remembered bible: Jesus said ‘I’m coming to your house for tea’.
Thanks.
From friend of Scholastica and a member of the Lay Community of St Benedict.
We’re at that time of year we keep for Remembrance. It something that, having started up about 100 years ago, has gathered pace recently. I called today’s correspondence Remember because there’s a lot of that in your Rule. Of course you can turn to the text as often as you like if it’s accessible but memory also plays a part in living by the Rule. There are some bits I remember better than others, that see sort of foundational, like the beginning. Working backwards is harder as I don’t always get to the end.
Just one of thousands of names remembered on the Menin Gate at Ypres
Which brings me to a
few thoughts about chapter 69 and not defending other community
members.
Like others
following the Rule today I find myself looking at the commentaries
and reflections published by those doing their following in different
circumstances to me. Some are helpful, some less so. On the whole
what I find unhelpful is a sort of detached ‘suck it up’
instruction. ‘Get on with it’ is not a very good encouragement to
keep going in community if it seems difficult. Yes, I accept that
hardship and challenge have their place in developing resilence in
adult life. But so does justice and if I might be so bold as to say
so, I find you a bit light on that, and some of your more recent
followers seem like that too.
Perhaps you have all
lived in ‘good enough’ communities. Maybe no one abused their
power and everyone got on as well as they might. Goodness flowed and
mental, psychological and spiritual health were available in
abundance. I suspect that’s somewhat niave especially when
interpreting chapter 69.
‘Don’t get caught up in the conflicts of others’ we are cautioned by one commentator. Well here I am again failing at living the Rule of St Benedict, me and many others too, if that really is what you meant.
At a Make Poverty History demonstration in Edinburgh in 2005
For the last 20 days
an ordinary man has been on hunger strike outside the Foreign Office
in London, silently and with as much dignity as possible, asking for
his wife, being held hostage in another country for over 6 years,
might come home. I’m not related to him. He’s not a member of my
family. I don’t live near him. I’ve never met him. But I have
writen to him several times and I am caught up in his unjust
situation.
He’s just one of
several examples I could point to. A number of my former colleagues
still contact me to discuss the injustices they experience, bullying
and other forms of power abuse, in their ministries, often because
there are unjust silences held over such issues. Don’t talk about
it. Endure. These are not healthy messages.
But it’s not clear
that chapter 69 recognises this. One commentator tells us that life
is not perfect. Indeed it is not. But it is one thing for life not to
be perfect and quite another to stand by and see others destroyed by
the abuse of power in communities.
As I write this
COP26 in Glasgow is nearly running on empty, as one rewrite after
another waters down the language of change that is required to really
tackle climate change. This is a global abuse of power. Once again
the most vulnerable loose out. Are you really saying in Chapter 69
that I shouldn’t take sides in any of this.
For me that’s a
direct contradiction to the gospel where Jesus encourages his
followers to side with the vulnerable and marginalised. Why would we
not do that? Why be bystanders when we could make a difference for
justice?
I’m not planning to escalate a community conflict but neither would I be willing to stand by and see injustice go unchecked. In my remembered bible, there’s a story about a widow and an unjust judge. The widow keeps pleading and the judge keeps ignoring her. Yes, she seems strong, but the judge in the story really is a sod! Jesus makes it quite clear that God is not like the judge and by extension we should not be either. But equally we should not just stand by and see the widows or similar in our communities just take it because it will make them stronger. I shudder at that thought. It is when the churches have been silent on issues of justice, particularly those within their own communities that they have failed in their gospel witness.
Remembrance bring us face to face with the outcomes of the escalation of global conflict, and urges us towards peace. But peace and justice have to go hand in hand. In the psalms I remember they even kiss.
One hundred years later in a small cemetery in northern France
I hope I won’t be violent in community, but I also hope I’ll not be standing by while power is abused and people are damaged. Chapter 69 and some commentaries on it may need a rewrite.
From my remembered
bible: Justice and peace join hands
Help me to remember and to live justly.
From a Friend of
Scholastica and a Member of the Lay Community of St Benedict.
On today’s practice walk for the LEJOG next month, I passed the puddles we saw earlier in the week. In the brown cloudy water I saw three tiny tadpoles.
Like a small comma
On a smugged page, you wiggle:
Invisible script.
The cowslips are coming up and will likely flower towards the end of the month. Most of the local fields are still empty. I only saw one lamb on my walk. Under the beech trees the green shoots of bluebells are beginning to appear with early May their likely flowering time.
This prayer is based on words from the Native American tradition:
Great Spirit, who made the darkness for rest,
Surround us this night
So that our words, our thoughts, our breath,
May rest in you.
There are cracks everywhere: in the ceiling and the arches, in the earth, in the institutions, in the people.
And our response to these cracks: we keep Lent again. We tell each story as if for the first time. We count each encounter.
Listen with the ear of your heart: Benedict begins The Rule that way. It’s simple enough.
Jesus goes up a mountain. Heaven breaks through. There are cracks but they can be filled with light and glory: remember.
And then he comes down. It is not the end of the story. Even if it is a good reason for going up mountains it is not a good enough reason never to come down again.
At the bottom of the mountain, I am still drawn there, to another encounter. This one counts for me. The excluded child and family; feared and fearful. Both faith and doubt need help: both have their cracks. The listening one listens and another glory fills the fragile lives of that family.
The story does not end there. More cracks to come, and more glory. As the sun streamed into the Abbey church later many of the cracks were filled with warm coloured light from the windows. Jesus: everything he’s cracked up to be.
Somewhere it is happening:
Rain is falling in fine mist or wind blown sheets,
In cats and dogs and straight stair rods,
It is wetting, damping, soaking,
It is filling, mudding, flowing.
This time it is Gareth,
Knocking at the door,
The pitter patter of hail like fingernails on the window,
The drone of the wind like the howl of all the wild things
From here to the Atlantic Ocean.
This is just the front passing through:
The back will be along later.
As the snow flakes began to whirl along the valley my head cleared. It came into focus for me that the snow flakes outside were mirroring the same white out in my head. From time to time, although generally less tired, my brain still fogs over and I stop being able to read what’s in front of me or concentrate on anything. Then I sleep.
I’ve realised long before this that there are very many shades of tired. I’ve not got them plotted out but this sort of tired is different from some others sorts I’ve known.
Yesterday I got soaked. It really rained hard. I took the opportunity to try out some of my outdoor gear both old and new in advance of the walk that I plan to start at the end of the month. The rain rolled off my new jacket in droplets and pooled in the turn ups of my older too long waterproof trousers. Useful if you want to take your goldfish for a walk (as in the song ‘How much is that doggy in the window? ‘). You can make a handy temporary water filled refuge in your turn ups.
But it was the downpour that interested me. Two weeks ago in North Wales we were basking in extraordinary high temperatures for the time of year. Coed-y-Bleiddiau, the place we stayed, nestled in a section of temperate rain forest but when we arrived it was very very dry. Dead leaves caught up in last years brambles and bracken, dead wood cracking under foot, dust dry paths: it was not how a rain forest might be imagined. It was worrying.
Towards the end of the week, the high temperatures chased away, rain washed in. After a couple of days the rain, the forest did begin to breathe more deeply. Clouds hugged the hills and raindrops dripped from bare branches. Little rivulets began to run downhill gathering up the dead leaves and wood and dust. The paths began to get damp, and even sticky with mud. The water was gently soaking in.
The woodland needs the rain. It needs a lot of it to return it to its temperate rain forest status. So too, I need a good soaking.
This is our last evening in Huddersfield after 10 years in the town.
Reflection
Grey stones, piled one on another:
Signs of past grandeur.
Statues of former heroes,
A train station that’ll have you going places.
A ring of supermarkets,
Each one vying to be brighter than the next.
A football team, at the bottom of the top flight,
Yet yearning to stay up and play the game.
Remembered bible
God is our strength and refuge,
A present help in trouble.
When God is with us we shall not be overcome.
Be still and know your Creator.
Prayers for Huddersfield
Standing on Castle hill on Good Friday each year local Christians pray for the town. Bob wrote a prayer often used there: God bless Huddersfield.
God bless Huddersfield.
Guide its people and keep them safe.
Where there is stress, bring healing.
Where there is enmity, bring peace.
Where jobs are in danger, bring security.
Where people work too hard, bring rest.
Let your faith fill this town,
Let your hope inspire this town,
Let your love enfold this town.
God bless Huddersfield.
Amen.
(Copyright Bob Warwicker)
Duet: A song for Simeon and Anna
Holy One, now may your servants go in peace
According to your promise,
For we have seen the signs you have provided,
That light the way for all who seek you,
And we have pointed to them faithfully,
For every generation.
Glory, Glory, Glory,
Creator, Son, Spirit,
Amen, Amen, Amen.
JAL 04.03.2019
Bob has been minister of the Waverley Group of Churches. His own blog is at
As the wind howls around the Wolf woods
Rain peppers the windows
And the fireplace is cold:
It’s time to bring the prayers of today together.
Let us be still.
Reflection
There was a walk downhill in the woods,
Rain gradually soaking into the green,
Drips on the bare birch branches like fairy lights.
Then there was a walk back up again.
Remembered bible
I look up at the hills
And wonder where I will get help.
God is always on hand
To help and to hold
The whole created order.
Prayers
For Sunday workers and Sunday work;
For Sunday resters and Sunday rest;
For players and pray-ers, singers and sayers;
For order and disorder, both that created by God
And that which we make.
Holy One, hear us:
Listen as you listen to each drop of rain falling in the forest.
Magnificat
Growing bigger God, expanding in me as in the whole universe,
How happy your presence makes me,
That you have chosen me for this uplifting moment.
I see you put down the rich and proud.
I see you raise up the poor and humble:
It keeps happening.
One generation after another you keep faith with us
May we, your yes filled ones, keep faith with you.
Glory, Glory, Glory
Creator, Son, Spirit,
Amen, Amen, Amen
JAL 03.03.2019
Coed-y-Bleiddiau is a cottage available for rent from The Landmark Trust.
